Thirty years after the Soviet Union left Afghanistan, some Russian politicians are calling for a reassessment of the conflict which critics have long cast as a bloody foreign adventure akin to the U.S. war in Vietnam.

Igor Sechin, head of Russian oil giant Rosneft and one of Vladimir Putin’s closest allies, has written to the Russian president saying Moscow’s deal with OPEC to cut oil output is a strategic threat and plays into the hands of the United States.

With his ratings down and state funds needed to hedge against new Western sanctions and raise living standards, Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot afford to get sucked into a costly nuclear arms race with the United States.

Russia must develop a new land-based cruise missile and a new land-based hypersonic missile before 2021 to respond to Washington’s planned exit from a nuclear arms control pact, the RIA news agency cited the defence minister as saying on Tuesday.

Russia has suspended the Cold War-era Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday, after the United States announced it would withdraw from the arms control pact, accusing Moscow of violations.